Tough draw for Buffs
Lose to Lovell, WIHS in pool play, but take down Riverside in final game
The Greybull Buffs salvaged a win in their final game of the Big Horn Basin Hoops Classic, defeating Riverside 50-31 to build some positive momentum in advance of their conference opener later this week against Rocky Mountain.
No team had a tougher draw than the Buffs, who faced and lost to the top-ranked 3A Lovell Bulldogs, 71-40, and 2A’s third-ranked Wyoming Indian Chiefs, 65-28, on the opening day of the Classic, which was hosted this year by Powell and Rocky Mountain.
“We knew Friday would be tough, but went in with a positive mindset of wanting to grow as a team and working on things that we’ve been trying improve from the week before,” said Coach Logan Burningham. “We also knew that with four straight games — junior varsity, varsity, junior varsity, varsity — that our swing players, especially, would be dead tired by the end of it.”
Even though they were outscored in every quarter, the Buffs showed flashes of competitiveness against Lovell. “Two buzzer-beaters, a 3 at the end of the first and a 3 at the end of the half, changed the momentum,” Burningham said. “For most of the first half, we were within 10.”
The Bulldogs extended their lead in each of the next two quarters, showing their depth along the way. “They go 10 to 12 deep, we only go about seven deep, so that wore on us,” he said. “Overall I thought we grew and got better from that game.”
The coach was singing a different tune after the Wyoming Indian game. The Chiefs rolled, limiting the Buffs to 26 points — 11 fewer than they did in their recent meeting in Ethete. Greybull connected on 25% of its field goal tries, had 27 turnovers and scored just one point in the final frame.
“We played like we didn’t want to be there,” Burningham said. “The kids were tired — we had swing players tell us they were too tired to play — and it just felt like the players quit on the floor, which is disconcerting.”
Burningham was worried it might carry over into Saturday’s game against Riverside, but that wasn’t the case. “The kids came to play and really bounced back,” he said of the 19-point victory.
Riverside was held to single digit scoring in ever quarter.
Caden Hunt paced the Buffs with 14, followed by Carter Jacobs with 11.
Looking back on the weekend, Burningham credited Jacobs “for leading us in scoring” and Hernandez “for having some bright moments” on an otherwise gloomy Friday. “Day two we had a couple role players step up. Rex (Cooper) and Cord (Edeler) came off the bench because four of our players got into early foul trouble. They showed us that maybe we can rely on them for more minutes in the future.
“It was a tough Big Horn Basin tournament. Going in, I thought if we could pull out a win against someone, it would be a positive for us. I’m excited that the one we got was the third one, which will hopefully carry over into this weekend.”
This week
The Buffs will take a 5-7 record into their first two conference games of the season. Greybull hosts Rocky Mountain Friday, with the JV at 4 p.m., the varsity at 7 p.m., and travels to Thermopolis Saturday for games at noon and 3 p.m.
“We get two powerhouses to start conference play,” Burningham said. “This is one of those years where we don’t have a team in our conference that’s below everyone else, so every game is going to be a battle. The goal is to come out with a couple wins, go into regionals and maybe steal a third seed.”
The Buffs play in Burlington Tuesday evening.
Lovell 22 14 13 22 — 71
Greybull 14 6 10 10 — 40
GREYBULL — Caden Hunt 2-7 0-0 4, William Harlow 0-0 2-2 2, Lucas Bolzer 2-2 1-4 6, Cole Wisehart 1-1 0-0 3, Isaac Vigil 1-4 1-2 3, Cord Edelere 0-1 0-0 0, Rex Cooper 0-0 0-2 0, Yandel Hernandez 5-11 0-0 10, Carter Jacobs 6-13 0-1 12. Totals 17-of-39 (FGs) 4-of-11 (FTs) 40.
3-POINT GOALS — Bolzer, Wisehart. REBOUNDS — Greybull 25 (Jacobs 6). STEALS — Greybull 10 (Hunt 4). ASSISTS — Greybull 9 (Hunt 4). TURNOVERS — Greybull 30.
Wyo. Indian 15 10 28 12 — 65
Greybull 10 4 11 1 — 26
GREYBULL — Hunt 2-14 2-2 8, Harlow 0-0 1-4 1, Bolzer 0-2 0-0 0, Wisehart 0-1 0-0 0, Vigil 0-4 0-0 0, Cooper 0-2 0-0 0, Hernandez 2-4 0-0 4, Jacobs 6-13 1-2 13. Totals 10-of-40 (FGs) 4-of-8 (FTs) 26.
3-POINT GOALS — Hunt 2. REBOUNDS — Greybull 23 (Jacobs, Bolzer 4). STEALS — Greybull 15 (Bolzer, Hernandez, Wisehart 3). ASSISTS — Greybull 6 (Vigil 3). TURNOVERS — Greybull 27.
Riverside 7 7 8 9 — 31
Greybull 17 12 11 10 — 50
GREYBULL — Hunt 5-15 3-7 14, Harlow 0-1 0-2 0, Bolzer 2-7 1-2 5, Wisehart 1-4 2-4 5, Vigil 0-3 0-2 0, Cooper 3-5 2-2 8, Hernandez 3-7 1-4 7, Jacobs 4-11 3-4 11. Totals 18-of-53 (FGs) 12-of-27 (FTs) 50.
3-POINT GOALS — Hunt, Wisehart. REBOUNDS — Greybull 44 (Hunt 9). STEALS — Greybull 9 (Hunt 5). ASSISTS — Greybull 9 (Hunt 4). TURNOVERS — Greybull 22.